UV Disinfection Robots: Leading the Battle Against COVID-19

The global pandemic named COVID-19 took the entire world by surprise in 2020. It has made great changes to daily routines across the globe, adding previously neglected tasks such as wearing masks, washing hands thoroughly, social distancing, and working from home.

Sanitizing has indeed become one of the primary areas of concern, particularly when it comes to densely populated regions. Public places and areas with crowds such as offices, restaurants, hospitals, airports, hotels, and schools, to name a few, are also difficult to keep sanitized while in use.

Such concerns led an increasing number of institutions and organizations to adopt disinfection robots for keeping public spaces and other areas germ free.

Many institutions such as airports, hotels, hospitals, railway stations, etc., are having automated robots disinfect their spaces and fight the spread of novel corona virus. Due to increasing concerns because of the biggest virus outbreak in the past decade, authorities are turning to robotic software as well as technologies to stop the spread of infectious diseases.

Needless to say, COVID-19 has certainly had a major impact on the automation market, albeit a positive one. The corona virus outbreak has created numerous possibilities for several organizations to develop and launch pioneering products. 

The usual approach taken by a majority of restaurants and hospitals is to have the staff manually disinfect high-contact places by wiping them down. This is risky for the staff as they could contact the virus, and research has demonstrated that multiple high-contact areas tend to get missed through this process.

Companies have realized that such situations require the use of mobile robots to help combat the infection, and disinfection robots that come with ultraviolet light are particularly useful in these cases. UV-C light is known to be effective against harmful viruses and bacteria, having been used to fight previous corona viruses like SARS, MERS, and Ebola.

Additionally, UV-C decreases the need to use strong chemicals for cleaning and proves more thorough, quicker, and less labor intensive compared to manual cleaning. This is great news, since such chemicals are not just harmful for the human body but also tend to be corrosive for some surfaces. All you need to use is safe soap and water to clean the area and leave the UV-C in the room for complete chemical-free disinfection.

Robots fitted with ultraviolet (UV) light that can move around with ease are, therefore, perfect for sterilizing public spaces like hospital rooms and schools. Since they are automated, they don’t need a human present nearby at all times. This gives a bigger boost to the health and safety of employees and front line workers, thus helping in the fight against corona virus.

These robots along with several types of robots programmed to carry out institution-specific tasks, such as hotel robots and school robots, are proving a boon for the public. At the same time, the manufacturers of such technology and software are learning much more about the market and adopting their robots to fit the requirements of today.

For instance, for hospitals that require UV disinfection robots, many companies that already own mobile robots are modifying them by integrating UV-C lighting structures onto them. Since these robots can already navigate autonomously throughout the hospital, they can operate without interruptions in the absence of human beings for several hours.

When their battery runs low, they can simply locate the closest charging station and charge themselves. Quick and easy implementation of new software updates is another advantage these robots come with, which further boosts efficiency and productivity.

The owners of the robots are generally provided the ability to run multiple robots as part of a fleet within a facility. This is done with the help of fleet management software.

As a result, the demand for such Delivery Robots has significantly increased throughout the world. Multiple manufacturers are developing innovative technologies to assist in the prevention of the SARS-COV-2 virus.